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Plausibility and evidence of homeopathy

At a debate held at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, USA on 25 October 2007 several distinguished international speakers presented the plausibility, theoretical principles, clinical and basic research evidence, ethical and other issues surrounding homeopathy.

Rustum Roy PhDPennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

His presentation is based on insights from rudimentary materials science. Material scientists unequivocally reject, as scientifically absurd, the argument used for decades and centuries against the feasibility of homeopathy: ‘‘A homeopathy remedy cannot have any effect at all because the final water is chemically identical to the water used to make it’’. A number of very good research studies have shown that the structure of water can be changed easily and retain a new structure.

Iris Bell MD PhDUniversity of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Her presentation covers three main points: pre-clinical and clinical studies demonstrate biological effects of homeopathic remedies; multiple observational studies on thousands of patients are overwhelmingly positive for homeopathic treatment in real world clinical practice; and randomized controlled trials and the meta-analyses based on them show mixed findings, but raise significant methodologic concerns, especially regarding external validity.

André Saine MDCanadian Academy of Homeopathy, Quebec, Canada

His presentation deals with the epidemiological evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of homeopathy. The homeopathic literature - more than 25,000 volumes - is very rich in reports about the results obtained by homeopathy during epidemics. Results obtained by homeopathy during epidemics reveal a very important and clear constancy: namely, a very low mortality rate. This constancy remains, regardless of the physician, institution, time, place or type of epidemical disease, including diseases carrying a very high mortality rate, such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, yellow fever and pneumonia.